Fencing tournaments 101: How to Prepare for Your First Competition!
How to Sign Up for A Club or local tournament
Competing in a club tournament is a great way to gain experience and test your skills in a structured, competitive setting. These events are well suited for beginners looking to try competition for the first time, as well as developing and intermediate fencers who want to sharpen their skills before moving on to larger regional events.
While many athletes choose to participate after several months of classes and lessons, club tournaments are open to all levels, and every participant can gain something valuable—whether it’s confidence, match experience, or a better understanding of competition rules and pacing.
Follow these simple steps to sign up:
Step 1: Purchase a Competitive USA Fencing Membership
Before registering for the tournament, you must have a Competitive Membership with USA Fencing. This is required for all sanctioned events. To purchase or upgrade your membership:
Select the Competitive Membership option ($99 per season). Important: Access Memberships are not valid for TMFC Youth Cups.
Complete the registration process and receive your USA Fencing membership number.
Step 2: FIND THE TOURNAMENT & Register oNLINE
Once your USA Fencing membership is active, you can sign up for club tournaments through AskFRED, the main hub for local and in-house events.
How to sign up:
Go to AskFRED.net.
Search for the tournament you want to enter. Typing “TMFC” or “TMFC Cup” will show all TMFC in-house tournaments for the season.
Click on the event and follow the registration instructions. You’ll be asked to enter your USA Fencing membership number.
You can also use AskFRED to find tournaments hosted by other clubs. Search by location, age category (such as Youth-10), or by rating level (for example, Unrated or D & Under events for fencers ages 13+ looking to gain experience or improve their rating).
AskFRED is used for club and local tournaments, while the USA Fencing website is where athletes register for regional, national, and international competitions.
To search for regional (TMFC is located in region 3) or national tournaments, you would use USA Fencings event page:
https://member.usafencing.org/search/tournaments
Step 3: Pay the Registration and Event Fees
Each TMFC in-house tournament has:
A general registration fee that covers tournament participation.
An additional (lower) fee for each event you enter (e.g., Y10 Men’s Saber, Y12 Men’s Saber if you are eligible for both events).
2024-2025 season fees: The registration fee typically starts at $65 and then turns to $85 after the early deadline. Day-of registration fee is $105 so it’s always best to sign up early! Event fees are always $20. Be on the lookout for each tournament’s early deadline!
Step 5: KNOW YOUR FENCING AGE & Category Eligibility
How Fencing Age Works (Simple Explanation)
In fencing, age eligibility is based on birth year, not your exact birthday during the season. This system keeps competition fair and consistent across the entire year.
Key points:
Fencers are grouped by birth year, not by when they turn a certain age.
Once a season begins, a fencer’s age category stays the same for the entire season, even if they have a birthday.
This applies to youth, cadet, junior, senior, and veteran events.
To look up your fencing age:
Why this matters:
It ensures athletes compete against peers in the same development stage.
It prevents constant category changes during the year.
It makes registration and rankings consistent nationwide.
Age eligibility and categories are set by USA Fencing, and all sanctioned tournaments follow this system.
Review the latest age chart here: (Click Here)
You can sign up for multiple events if your birth year overlaps between two events. For example, If you were born in 2015, you are eligible to compete in both Y10 and Y12 if you would like. Y10 will have kids mostly your age, while Y12 will be a bit of a challenge against mostly older kids. You are encouraged to do whatever is most comfortable for you!
Step 4: Check Event Times on AskFRED
All event start times are posted on AskFRED. Make sure to check the schedule so you arrive with enough time to warm up and check in before your event begins. If we ever update an event time, an email will automatically go out to all registrants.
Step 6: Bring Full Equipment
Each fencer must have their own full set of saber equipment to compete. We ask that each fencer purchase their own set as participating in a tournament marks your first step to committing to fencing. This includes:
Saber mask
Jacket and glove
Lame
Saber
Body cord and mask cord
Fencing pants and knee-high socks
Make sure all equipment is in working condition before the tournament.
Step 7: Arrive Early on Tournament Day
Fencers should arrive 45 minutes to an hour before their event starts. This allows time to:
Check in at the registration desk
Warm up and stretch
Fence practice bouts before the competition begins
That’s it! You’re all set to compete. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@timmorehousefencing.com. See you on the strip!
